Oxidation Behavior of Micro-Crystalline Coatings of 310S Stainless Steel

Micro-crystalline coatings of 310S stainless steels were produced by unbalanced magnetron sputter deposition. Isothermal oxidation behavior of the coated and uncoated specimens has been studied using a thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) station. The oxidation time was 50h and the temperature was 1 000℃. The oxidation rates of the coated specimens was found to be much lower than the uncoated specimens after 50 h of oxidation. The oxidation kinetic curves of the coated specimens consisted of three stages: approximately parabolic at the first stage, speeding up at the second stage, and slow down at the third stage. The increase of the oxidation rate at the second stage nasattributed to the fast diffuison of Fe though the fine grained Cr₂O₃ layer formed on the micro-crystalline coatings.The top view and cross-section microstructures of the oxides formed on the coated and the uncoated specimens were studied with SEM and EDS. It was observed that the nucleation of oxide on the coated specimens was much enhanced at the initial oxidation stage. This was explained as the result of reduction in the critical free energy change and increase in the supply of chromium ions.